You can pout and stomp your feet about it all you want, but BP is more of an authority on the subject than either you or I.

Not at all. And that's why it's silly that BP even puts these predictions out. Look, you had a tantrum early about people not respecting BP's authori-tah. You say they are well respected, well read, used by front offices, that's fine. Then you say that although those numbers are very relevant and accurate, their predictions don't reflect poorly on them because they are just "for fun". The fact that they have to defend their very flawed model by saying "you shouldn't take them that seriously" speaks volumes.

So, whatever credibility they have on other statistics is jeopardized through them putting out these numbers which you and they admit are flawed. Even if they are an authority on stats, they are self-admittedly not one on predictions. The fact that they include a caveat emptor with their predictions shows as much.